Seebohm Rowntree

Seebohm Rowntree (7 July 1871-7 October 1954) was a British industrialist and philanthropist.

Biography
Seebohm Rowntree was born in York, England, and he was educated there at Bootham School and at Owens College in Manchester. He entered his family's chocolate firm in 1889, and as a director of Rowntree's, he introduced a number of innovations such as a works doctor, a five-day week, employee pension and profit-sharing schemes, and a works council. As direct of the welfare department of the ministry of munitions in 1915-18, he encouraged the munitions factories to adopt many of these practices. He was also widely known for his investigation of the causes and consequences of poverty. His pioneering study of York, Poverty: A Study of Town Life (1901), illustrated the limits of customary voluntary solutions to poverty, and highlighted the necessity for government to take a greater role. In 1936, he carried out a further survey in York, which showed that poverty levels had decreased somewhat, but that it was still widespread, with 17.5% of the population falling below a newly defined poverty threshold. The Rowntree reports triggered a host of similar studies in Britain and abroad, and became the basis of subsequent social legislation. He established the Rowntree Trust, which continued his surveys and research into poverty and unemployment.